With support from the USDA Rural Development, Syracuse EFC is offering mini-grants of up to $5,000 for Asset Management Inventory Development. Syracuse EFC will award three grants of up to $5,000 during one round of funding. Rural municipalities within New York State may apply.* All proposals must be received by 5:00pm on January 3, 2014, to be considered. Awards will be announced no later than February 1, 2014. Work must be completed no later than August 31, 2014. For more information, contact Khris Dodson at kdodson@syracusecoe.org.

This mini-grant program seeks to provide rural municipalities with the proper tools and resources to fully conduct an Asset Management (AM) inventory for their water or wastewater system. An AM inventory can serve as a useful first-step for creating an Asset Management plan, which can then be used as a decision-making tool to aid municipalities in the development of a capital management plan.

*A rural area, as defined by USDA-RD, is any location beyond the urbanized periphery surrounding a city of 50,000 or more—in essence, areas not located in a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). This program intends to serve communities with a population not in excess of 10,000 in rural areas.